Fomer ambassador mashes Bush, GOP

10/8/2005, 10:22 p.m. PT By CHARLES E. BEGGS The Associated Press

SUNRIVER, Ore. (AP) — Civil war is virtually inevitable in Iraq whenever the United States withdraws its forces from the country and maybe sooner, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson told Oregon Democrats on Saturday.

Wilson, who gained national attention when the identity of his wife as an undercover CIA operative was leaked to the news media in 2003, was keynote speaker at the state Democratic Party's biennial summit conference.

The former American ambassador to Iraq and several African countries lashed the Bush administration, along with Republicans generally, in an hour-long talk to the partisan gathering.